When a human bone has been fractured, the fractured portions must be properly aligned with one another so as to allow for proper healing. Sometimes proper alignment can be achieved without artificial assistance. At other times it may be necessary to stabilize the bone about the point of the fracture with special surgical apparatus. In situations where the fractured bone is fairly large, e.g. a femur, a tibia, a fibula, etc., such stabilization can be effected through a wide variety of surgical apparatus, e.g. pins, plates, etc. However, where the fractured bone is fairly small and delicate, e.g. a metacarpal, a phalanx, a metatarsal, etc., the choice of surgical apparatus is substantially more restricted. In general, a small and delicate bone can be stabilized about the point of the fracture only by wiring together the fractured portions of the bone with very fine, flexible steel wire. In such interosseous wiring, the surgeon typically first drills one or more holes through the bone on each side of the fracture line, and then threads the wire in and out of the holes and across the fracture line so as to effectively tie the fractured portions of the bone together in healing position.
Unfortunately, in the case of small bones, the surgical holes and interosseous wire must be sized as fine as possible. This presents something of a problem, inasmuch as it can be time-consuming and tiring to thread a flexible steel wire through the tiny surgical holes, a procedure roughly analagous to threading a needle. This is particularly true under the difficult operating constraints frequently imposed by the fracture site.